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Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Fantasy Funkhouser: 2014 Fantasy Baseball Player Ranks Rounds 8-10

Enough closer craziness for you on Day 1? (AP Photo, USAT, ESPN)

Fantasy Funkhouser will review all things Fantasy Baseball. After all, life is a small sample size.With the baseball season under way, we've seen a lot of madness already. Particularly on the closer front. Whether done in by managers or injuries 4 closers have been displaced in 24 hours sending waiver and FAAB budgets into a frenzy.

Valverde, K-Rod, Lindstrom & S Santos are all closers now. None were 4 days ago. How many time we gotta say it? Never pay for saves.
— Matthew Berry (@MatthewBerryTMR) April 1, 2014

Personally, I would only invest confidently in Sergio Santos. He has the skills and closer experience (TM) to keep the job from the oft-injured Casey Janssen. Matt Lindstrom couldn't save on 2-ply at Costco. Robin Ventura seems to like to mess with closers at the beginning of the year for whatever reason. Let's see if Lindstrom goes out there in back-to-back opportunities or high leverage situations. I feel like Nate Jones is only a setup man for a brief moment in time.Jose Valverde and Francisco Rodriguez have combined for close to 600 saves total (591) so they have the closer experience stink all over them. Unbeknownst to apparently every fantasy writer out there, incumbent Brewers' closer Jim Henderson looked like garbage this spring, leading to Bob Melvin's shocking decision to insert K-Rod until Henderson figures himself out. Well, Henderson isn't exactly Lee Smith, so who knows when that correction will happen ... like in ever. Due to Bobby Parnell's unfortunate elbow tear, he is likely heading for Tommy John surgery. Papa Grande is next on the bullpen list, but I can only seriously consider a minimum bid on him. Bottom 1/3 of your league for a waiver bid and I threw a couple of dollars at him in some leagues as a 4th closer. I hope to God that I don't get him, but much like the lottery, $1 could get you some dividends. I'd monitor Valverde to see when he puts together a couple rough outings then go in for Jeurys Familia. We are pumping out some rankings to get to 250 sooner rather than later. The updated list, with Jose Reyes tumbling down it is further down.

RANK

PLAYER NAME

POS

POS RANK

TEAM

97

Matt
Cain

SP

20

SF

98

Mat
Latos

SP

21

CIN

99

Danny
Salazar

SP

22

CLE

100

Sonny
Gray

SP

23

OAK

101

Victor
Martinez

1B

14

DET

102

Brandon
Belt

1B

15

SF

103

Trevor
Rosenthal

RP

5

STL

104

Shelby
Miller

SP

24

STL

105

Chase
Utley

2B

8

PHI

106

Gio
Gonzalez

SP

25

WAS

107

Andrew
Cashner

SP

26

SD

108

Gerrit
Cole

SP

27

PIT

109

Billy
Butler

1B

16

KC

110

Martin
Prado

SS

10

ARZ

111

Jedd
Gyorko

2B

9

SD

112

Jonathan
Lucroy

C

6

MIL

113

Cole
Hamels

SP

28

PHI

114

Desmond
Jennings

OF

29

TB

115

Brian
McCann

C

7

NYY

116

Jose
Reyes

SS

11

TOR

117

Brett
Gardner

OF

30

NYY

118

Aaron
Hill

2B

10

ARZ

119

Hyun-Jin
Ryu

SP

29

LAD

120

Koji
Uehara

RP

6

BOS

On Deck: Brad Miller, Austin Jackson, David Robertson

OVERALL RANKINGS SO FAR
Note: I screwed up the numbers for my SS changes, so while nothing is listed, they were certainly moved around.